JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam completed his Snetterton clean sweep in a last-lap thriller in today’s second Bennetts British Superbike battle to make it five wins on the bounce.
The championship leader had to fend off a hard charge from Jake Dixon and Josh Brookes, which ended in all three covered by less than 0.090s.
Bradley Ray got the best start and nabbed the holeshot ahead of Brookes and Glenn Irwin, but Brookes was ahead by the time the leaders hit Agostini’s.
The Australian led Buildbase Suzuki’s Ray and Dixon over the line for the first of 16 laps, while moments later Anvil Hire TAG Racing’s James Ellison crashed out of fifth at Ago’s.
Led by Brookes, the front five - Ray, Dixon, Leon Haslan and Irwin - broke away from the rest of the field and set about at a furious pace.
Haslam passed Brad Ray for second just as Dixon and Irwin jostled for fourth, but disaster struck for Irwin just a few laps later.
In the fight for third, Ray lost the front after a pass underneath the Northern Irishman at Ago’s, taking both he and the Be Wiser Ducati rider out of the race.
At the front, Haslam was still on a charge and he stuck a pass on McAMS Yamaha rider Brookes to take the lead on lap 10, but Brookes was straight back at Haslam the very next lap, moving back ahead at Riches.
But while Haslam was busy passing Brookes on lap 14, RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki’s Dixon had cut the duo’s advantage to just half a second.
On the final lap, Brookes went around the outside of Haslam at Coram, dipping underneath at Murray’s, but the Aussie lost drive heading onto the Senna Straight and came elbow to elbow with Haslam, who nipped the win from Jake Dixon - who had snuck up the inside - by 0.040s.
Brookes had to settle for third less than 0.050s further back, while the next closest man, Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot, took fourth 11 seconds adrift.
FS-3 Racing Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan bagged fifth ahead of Smith’s Racing man Peter Hickman and Richard Cooper.
Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon beat his team-mate Michael Laverty to eighth, while Ducati rider Andrew Irwin rounded out the top ten.
